Tory lawyer argues against voiding vote

By THE CHRONICLE HERALDPublished December 13, 2012 - 10:58pm

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OTTAWA (CP) — It speaks volumes that no Canadian voters have come forward to swear out an affidavit saying their trips to the federal ballot box were thwarted last year by misleading robocalls, a Conservative lawyer argued Thursday.

Casting a ballot — visiting a polling station, showing ID, getting one’s name crossed off the voters list — is an inherently public activity, Arthur Hamilton told a hearing that’s examining the impact of the calls in six federal ridings.

“Nobody should have difficulty coming and very publicly saying ‘I wanted to vote and I was stopped from voting,’ Hamilton said.

“Because that’s the type of evidence that’s being sought if somebody wants to overturn any of these six election results, it should be not at all difficult to find those people.”

The threshold for overturning the results of an election ought to be exceedingly high, Hamilton argued on Day 4 of the robocalls court challenge.

Otherwise, Canadian courts would be inundated with a deluge of legal challenges after future contests, he said.